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New Day Saturday
Shooting at LAX; FBI Investigates Teens Death; Red Sox Parade; LAX Shooter in Custody; Witnesses Describe Shooting; Comedy Shows Being Watched as News
Aired November 02, 2013 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard some shots. We heard some more shots. So everybody kind of hit the ground and then people started to run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: A shooting rampage aft Los Angeles International Airport kills one TSA officer and injures several other people. We now have new details on who the shooter is and what his real mission may have been.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF PATRICK GANNON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: He proceed up into the screening area, where TSA screeners are, and continued shooting, and went past the screeners, back into the airport itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ALISON KOSIK, CNN ANCHOR: Could it happen anywhere? A former FBI assistant director answers the question, was the LAX shooting a freak incident or is it amazing it doesn't happen more often?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL MOORE, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA (ph): My objective is to discover the truth. And I believe that can only be done by gathering all of the evidence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: And it's the story that CNN has pursued for six months. A new information into the death of Kendrick Johnson. It's bringing hope to his family that the truth of his death will be revealed.
KOSIK: Good morning. I'm Alison Kosik.
BLACKWELL: It's a pleasure to be with you. I'm Victor Blackwell. 6:00 here on the East Coast. This is NEW DAY SATURDAY.
And we're starting with the big breaking news that's happened yesterday and developed overnight. Terminal three at Los Angeles International Airport is closed this morning as investigators are now piecing together why a gunman took aim at TSA officers. The suspect's identified now as 23-year-old Paul Ciancia. And overnight we learned about a series of texts that he sent his family members that concerned them so much that they contacted police. Friday's rampage left one TSA officer dead, two more injured.
A video shot by one person at the airport and given to TMZ, it really shows the chaotic moments after the shooting started. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody, on the floor! On the floor now! On the floor!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go. On the floor.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on you guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) this is crazy, dawg (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: A source tells CNN that Ciancia was shot several times in the chest and new video appears to show him being taken from LAX. Look at this video. It was exclusively shot by our affiliate KCAL and KCBS. The wounded man is thought to be Ciancia, but CNN has not been able to independently confirm this. Now you can see what appears to be the suspect's wrists handcuffed to the gurney. The FBI says, as of last night, doctors were treating Ciancia at a local hospital.
CNN's Dan Simon joins me now from Los Angeles with more.
Dan, what details are you learning? How did all this go down?
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Alison.
At this point, we still don't know the exact motive of the shooter, but it seems pretty concern that he wanted to target TSA agents in particular. In the meantime, terminal three, where this took place, is still closed and it's not clear yet when it will reopen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is going to be a major, major incident working here at LAX.
SIMON (voice-over): Los Angeles International Airport, 9:20 a.m. local time. The FBI says 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia enters terminal three, pulls a rifle from a bag and opens fire.
CHIEF PATRICK GANNON, LOS ANGELES POLICE: He proceed up into the screening area where TSA screeners are, and continued shooting and went past the screeners, back into the airport itself. SIMON: At the security checkpoint, TSA officers, who are not armed, are shot. One, 39-year-old Gerardo Hernandez is killed. He is the first TSA officer to die in the line of duty since the agency was established in 2001. Authorities say after shooting his way through this security checkpoint, Ciancia manages to make it all the way down this hallway. They say he is stopped by police in the food court area. Hundreds run for their lives.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a complete panic. People were screaming. You know, I saw children crying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Pure and utter mayhem. I mean people were tripping over each other on the floor, bags everywhere, crying, screaming.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody started like flying down the hallway and they were just like jumps over chairs, jumping over people, hiding and we were kind of trapped at the end of the terminal.
SIMON: Trapped with nowhere else to escape, some passengers run onto the airport tarmac. Others use anything they can to protect themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The first shot just like caught us off guard. The second shots went in, and then I just grabbed luggage and I started making walls and walls out of luggages. And I could see the guy as he's walking towards the escalator and he's just pointing down past us.
SIMON: After making it hundreds of feet into the terminal, the gunman is shot by police multiple times in the chest and lives. Though the motive is still unclear, a federal law enforcement official says investigators found information on the suspect expressing anti-federal government sentiment, and also anger at the TSA specifically. But what is clear, the gunman was intent on causing much more destruction. Authorities say he had additional ammunition.
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI, LOS ANGELES: There were more than 100 more rounds that could have literally killed everybody in that terminal.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIMON: Well, airport police, fortunately, were able to take down the suspect. But CNN has learned that airport police were actually removed from TSA checkpoints earlier this year. They had been there in the aftermath since 9/11, but a decision had been made to allow them to roam throughout the terminal as long as they were no more than two minutes away from a checkpoint. It certainly raises questions, Alison, that had they still been there at the checkpoints, perhaps they could have engaged the suspect earlier, not have allowed him to breach security and go deep into the departure area.
Alison.
KOSIK: And that is - that is a good question. Dan Simon at LAX this morning. Thank you. BLACKWELL: We're learning more about those messages that we mentioned at the top of the show. Let's start here. His family is from the town of Pennsville, New Jersey. And police say that his family is shocked, but one family member had recently received a very disturbing text from the suspect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHIEF ALLEN CUMMINGS, PENNSVILLE, NEW JERSEY, POLICE: Basically the text message was just a message to the little brother. And the way it was written, they had some concern about it, and that's when they brought it to our attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Now, the Pennsville Police then contacted the L.A.P.D. to do a well-being check on Ciancia at his apartment, but he was not there when officers talked to his roommates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CUMMINGS: To be honest with you, I don't think this - any -- we were able to connect any of this together. You know, small town like Pennsville, you know, we followed it up and we -- our procedure is, if someone is concerned about a family member, we call that local police department and do a well-being check. And that's basically what we did. And it came back he wasn't home. L.A.P.D. had advised me that they would basically contact us as soon as they made contact with him so I could alert the family that he was OK and that's -- at that point that's when we - I actually discovered from the AP that, you know, that Paul was the suspect.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: An intelligence source tells CNN, the recent texts to the family were, quote, angry, rambling messages venting about the government, his life in Los Angeles and his general unhappiness. But despite that, his family was surprised, as are people who knew Ciancia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH PAGAN, NEIGHBOR: I mean I haven't had any personal reactions with him, but like from what I've seen and heard, he was just a normal person. You know, everyday guy. You know, friendly. You would never - like as -- even right now, I'm still trying to process, did this really happened? Did they get the wrong guy? Because if they told me that they got the wrong guy, it would make a lot more sense to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: And, of course, crews across the country are trying to get more information not only about Ciancia but the victims as well. And we're going to have an expanded conversation about what this means for airport security. I mean when you walk into an airport, especially here in Atlanta, there's -- it's like a small mall. KOSIK: Well, as many airports are like that, too. But just imagine, if you had security just to get into the facility itself, I mean there would be a backup just to get into the building. You know, you really have to question if it will go over well with people who use the airport.
BLACKWELL: Are people going to tolerate that backup?
KOSIK: Exactly.
BLACKWELL: So we'll talk about that.
Also still to come on NEW DAY, police say a Georgia teenagers death was just an accident, but his family says it was murder.
KOSIK: Now the FBI is involved in searching for answers. It's the story CNN has been on top of for months.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Ahh, there you're looking at the nation's Capital, Washington, D.C. Good morning. Hi.
BLACKWELL: You've got to be the first person who's looked at the Capitol dome and said "ahh."
KOSIK: It's beautiful. I used to live there. I loved living there. Even better today. You know what it is, we get to set our clocks back. Fall back.
BLACKWELL: Oh, yes, that's right, an extra hour of sleep. Celebrate.
KOSIK: Yes. At least for an hour.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KOSIK: There is new hope for the family of a Georgia teen found dead wrapped in a gym mat 10 months after the death of Kendrick Johnson. The FBI now says it will look into the death with a fresh pair of eyes.
BLACKWELL: Now, this is all following CNN's ongoing investigation for more than six months now. We've uncovered new details and filed almost two dozen open records requests into Johnson's death. Local officials have said that his death was an accident. But his parents, Kendrick Johnson's parents, they have never believed that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No justice.
CROWD: No peace.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No justice.
CROWD: No peace. BLACKWELL (voice-over): After months of rallies and protests, an announcement that the family of Kendrick Johnson hopes will lead to what they consider to be justice.
MICHAEL MOORE, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA (ph): At this time, however, I am of the opinion that a sufficient basis exists for my office to conduct a formal review of the facts and investigation surrounding the death of Kendrick Johnson.
BLACKWELL: U.S. Attorney Michael Moore, supported by the FBI, will soon head to Valdosta, Georgia, to conduct a federal investigation into the death of 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson.
MOORE: I will follow the facts whenever, whenever they lead. My objective is to discover the truth.
BARBARA ENGLISH, KENDRICK JOHNSON'S GRANDMOTHER: Hallelujah! Praise Jesus.
MOORE: Kendrick's grandmother watched the announcement on a portable TV on the street corner where the family continues its eight-month sit-in demanding answers.
ENGLISH: I'm so happy and I know we trust in the Lord and we just getting - being down here rallying for 32 weeks for nothing.
BLACKWELL: The Johnson family never believed the local sheriff's explanation that Kendrick suffocated after squeezing his 19-inch shoulders into the 14 1/2-center of a rolled gym mat to reach for a shoe in the middle of a school day.
BENJAMIN CRUMP, JOHNSON FAMILY ATTORNEY: His parents have always maintained that their son was killed. And the only question we want to know is why they're covering up for whoever killed their son.
KENNETH JOHNSON, KENDRICK JOHNSON'S FATHER: I believe, indeed, that he was murdered.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN: Do you have any idea who may have murdered him?
JOHNSON: No, I don't. That's what we want to get on to the truth.
BLACKWELL: CNN has been reporting on this case for months, uncovering details of the sheriff's investigation, like why these shoes, found yards from Kendrick's body, were not collected as evidence, and how this blood stain got on his wall in the gym and why investigators never found whose blood it was.
BLITZER: And you don't believe there was a thorough investigation by local authorities, Mr. Johnson?
JOHNSON: No, I don't.
BLACKWELL: In a statement to CNN, the attorney for the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office writes in part, "while Sheriff Prine has every confidence that his officer's investigation was handled with the necessary diligence to assure that all leads were examined and exhausted, he welcomes the U.S. attorney's further review of the case."
On Wednesday, a judge ordered Lowndes County Sheriff's Office to hand over its full investigative file, including never before seen surveillance video from inside the gym where Kendrick died.
ENGLISH: Just got to continue to fight on till justice is done for K.J.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KOSIK: You know, Victor, the more I hear about this story, every time something new comes out, the more stunning it is to hear some of these details.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KOSIK: You know, at what point is the review going to start?
BLACKWELL: Well, the U.S. attorney says that this is an ongoing review. He got this file, the unredacted files, the documents and all the video back in June and he says for the last several months he's been looking through it. At this point he says it goes from a review to a review and an investigation, bringing in the FBI. So this continues.
KOSIK: Well, you know, some of that evidence that we saw in your story, the blood on the wall, the shoes, will that be able to be tested since so much time has gone by? Is that even admissible at this point?
BLACKWELL: Well, the shoes were not collected, so those are not part of the evidence file and probably -- they may never ever find those shoes again, the orange and black shoes. The blood - there are samples of the blood that were tests to determine if that blood was not Kendricks. If that is still on file, and according to the evidence file it is still there, that can be tested.
KOSIK: Now, there have been investigation of a cover-up. Will the investigation into the murder also include a review of the local authorities that handled, you know, their own investigation?
BLACKWELL: Yes, it's a combination. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Michael Moore said this is a review and an investigation. So he'll review the case file and all the documents, all the work that has been done up to this point, but this is also an investigation that the FBI is going to go in and ask some questions and try to get some answers. And we're actually going to continue our conversation about the developments in this story.
Former Special Agent Harold Copus (ph) is coming in this morning. He has reviewed the case from the very beginning when we started to do this story and follow this. I reached out to him and showed him some of the pictures and the documents and we'll talk through how this will look on the ground because he's done it several times before. So stay with us this morning for that.
KOSIK: It will be interesting to hear what he has to say.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KOSIK: OK. Still to come on NEW DAY -
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Go Red Sox!
Let's go Red Sox!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Boston strong takes center stage this morning as the city gets ready for the Red Sox victory parade. This time, it's taking on a whole new meaning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: Twenty-one minutes after the hour now. A live look at Fenway Park. Good morning, Boston. Very early this morning. Boston's going to be --
KOSIK: Oh, yes.
BLACKWELL: Of course, a busy place this morning.
KOSIK: Busy.
And, yes, this is because the city's preparing for the parade to celebrate the Red Sox as the World Series champs. Sixty-five degrees today there. Good weather. Partly cloudy.
BLACKWELL: Yes, for Boston in November, that is good, 65 degrees.
Well, let's talk about this a little more. From worst to first. And from tragedy to Boston strong.
KOSIK: And in just a few hours, the remarkable, historic and unexpected Red Sox World Series parade is kicking off in Washington - not Washington, in Boston.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KOSIK: Joe Carter, he's got more in this morning's "Bleacher Report."
OK, so what can we expect from this celebration? You know, everybody's excited, obviously, that they won. But it's - but there's this -- there's really a sort of bittersweet aspect to this, isn't there?
JOE CARTER, BLEACHER REPORT: I think - I think more than anything, you know, this is a - this kind of completes the full circle for the Boston Red Sox. I mean I think each individual fan will celebrate it in their own way. But, you know, we're expecting today that the parade route is going to be similar as the 2004 route. 2004, if you guys remembered, that was the Red Sox first World Series in almost 90 years.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
CARTER: So they're going to replicate that parade route today, as they did in 2004. It will start at Fenway Park and then it will go down Boylston Street. It will go past the marathon finish line. It will go around the city, around the science museum, and then they're go into the Charles River.
Now, this is going to be a land and sea celebration. They use those duck tour boats.
KOSIK: (INAUDIBLE).
CARTER: And they're actually asking fans this year not to throw baseballs in the Charles River. Saying control yourselves, no baseballs. But, you know, in that parade in 2004, there was 3 million people. So they're expecting the crowd to be similar this year, the same size. Obviously, we're expecting it to be just as big as well. I would expect, because it's Saturday, because families can bring their children, you're going to see a lot of people.
Now, as far as the - you know, the Red Sox story, you know, you can go the Hollywood version and say, you know, the city really rallied around them and used them as a point of resiliency. But if you look at it from the baseball team, I mean last year they finished worst in the league - well, worst in the American League East.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
CARTER: This team was ridiculed at the end of the season. The pitcher saying that they cared more about eating chicken in the locker rooms and playing video games than actually winning games. They fired their manager. They came back this year. They have a new manager. They ditched a bunch of high salaries. They brought in veterans that had something to prove. And the team went on a great run.
Now, the bombing happened just two weeks into the baseball season. The team had just beaten the Boston - or, excuse me, the team had just beaten the Tampa Bay Rays and they were leaving Boston, heading to Cleveland for a road trip when they actually got word of the bombing when they were on the plane. So they came back that following weekend and they played a series. And, really, that was the first game -- the first step forward for the city of Boston, both from a sports perspective and from a fans' perspective after the bombing.
And that weekend was a really poignant time in I think the Red Sox year because if you remember before the game they had all those tributes where they hung up the Boston strong sign and the (INAUDIBLE) monster. They had etched it into the outfield grass, they had hung up the jersey in the dugout. And then David Ortiz, just before the game started, walked out into the middle of the diamond and grabbed the microphone and said this is our bleeping city. And that was sort of the point where Jonny Gomes (ph) had said it turned from a slogan into a lifestyle, that whole Boston strong thing. And I think that's -- that's sort of where, you know, the fans have taken that now, is that this team really symbolizes resiliency from worst to first.
BLACKWELL: Yes, and not just the Boston fans, not just the Red Sox alone (ph), but the entire country is going to be celebrating with the city today because they need something to celebrate.
CARTER: I think it's fair to say that even Yankee fans are sort of happy for Boston.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KOSIK: Which is unheard of.
BLACKWELL: All right, Joe Carter, thank you very much. We'll talk about this throughout the morning.
And stay with us for the next few hours. We're going to be covering the parade when it kicks off at 10:00 a.m. Eastern live right here on CNN. You can also check out the parade on cnn.com/live.
KOSIK: Family members of the suspected gunman at LAX are mystified about the deadly rampage. Could texts sent by the alleged gunman suggest a motive in the shooting?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is probably the worst fear (ph) I've ever been in, in my life. I mean it was the most terrifying. And you always like kind of, you know, imagine what would you do. You know, you hear about these horrible incidents and you've got to kind of ask yourself, what would I do in a situation like that? And the only thing I could do was just like keep my eyes down the hallway to make sure he wasn't coming down and just try to keep calm. But, I mean, everybody was just going crazy. It was the - it was probably the most terrifying experience I've ever been through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: Bottom of the hour now. Welcome back. I'll Alison Kosik.
BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to have you this Saturday morning.
Let's start with five things you need to know for your new day.
Up first, law enforcement at Los Angeles International Airport. They're mourning the TSA officer killed in that shoot-out at the airport. And they plan to wear black bands on their badges in honor of Gerardo Hernandez. He was working as a travel document checker when he was shot. Now, the TSA says he would have turned 40 next week.
KOSIK: Number two, the search for a missing school nurse is over. Police in Florida say they have identifies a body found in a remote area as 49-year-old Kimberly Lindsey. Lindsey was reported missing after she failed to show up for work on Monday. The case is now a homicide investigation.
BLACKWELL: Number three, Toronto Police say they now have video that shows the city's mayor smoking crack cocaine. Now, the existence of the video was reported earlier, but now investigators say they actually have it. The video was recovered from a computer seize in a drug and gang investigation. Now Mayor Rob Ford denies using crack cocaine and says he will not resign.
KOSIK: Number four, Charlie Crist wants his old job back. On Monday, he's expected to announce that he's running for governor of Florida again, but this time as a Democrat. Crist first was elected governor as a Republican, but he ran as an Independent in his failed 2010 bid for the U.S. Senate. Now Crist has filed campaign paperwork that lists him as a Democrat.
BLACKWELL: Five now, a suspected U.S. drone strike has killed a Taliban leader in Pakistan. And the U.S. believes Hakimullah Mehsud played a role in the deadly attack on a U.S. military base in Afghanistan in 2009. Three other people were also killed. The Pakistani government issued a statement saying it strongly condemns the drone strike.
KOSIK: More details about how the shooting at LAX terminal three unfolded.
BLACKWELL: And officials say the suspect was armed with an assault rifle, and enough ammo to kill everyone in that terminal.
KOSIK: We're being told the gunman was able to shoot his way through this security check point and make it all the way down the hallway there that you see, before he was - before he stopped right there near a Burger King in the food court.
BLACKWELL: Now, as word spread of a gunman on the loose, people, of course, they started running for their lives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone on the floor! On the floor, now! On the floor! Down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teo, Teo, Teo, Teo, Teo!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on you, guys!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go.
(EXPLETIVE DELETED) This is crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BV: Well, police chased down that suspect, shot him multiple times in the chest. He's now in custody. This video shot exclusively by CNN affiliate KCAL-KCBS shows what appears to be a suspect handcuffed to a gurney arriving at the hospital. The FBI has identified the shooter as 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia, he lives in L.A., but he's from New Jersey. Authorities say they found information on him expressing anti-government sentiment and anger targeted at the TSA. One witness said he could hear the anger in Ciancia's voice.
GORDON, WITNESS TO LAX SHOOTING: I stood up, I was still trying to watch to see where it was coming from. To see where - if I could see the shooter. But I never did actually see him or I could hear him yelling while he was shooting.
KOSIK: What was he yelling?
GORDON: I couldn't make it out. He was just real angry. I really couldn't make out what he was saying. But it was English, it was, you know, just real angry voice.
KOSIK: Now, this is amazing, there's another witness who came actually face to face with the shooter. Leon Saryan. He told CNN's Anderson Cooper about the chaos that was going on in the terminal and how the gunman actually approached him with a life or death question, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON SARYAN, WAS FACE TO FACE WITH LAX GUNMAN: The shots were coming from behind me. And the TSA agent that was near me, urged me to, you know, grab my stuff and go. And saw that I didn't have my shoes on. And, you know, that - so he grabbed the shoes and the two of us started running down the corridor towards the gate. Meanwhile, more shots rang out. And this agent got hit. I think it was a grazing wound. Because he seemed to be OK. He had my shoes. I went and kind of cowered in a corner. And the shooter was just calmly walking down the corridor, he saw me cowering there. He had his gun and he looked at me and he said TSA? I just shook my head. He kept going.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: We'll talk more about Ciancia throughout the morning, but let's talk about security because since 9/11, airport security has been focused on passengers, and the plane and the cockpit. But now one security expert tells CNN that the U.S. must also consider airport terminals as potential targets.
RAFI RAN, AIRPORT SECURITY ANALYST: This time, we may have a single shooter, which is a relatively limited event. But imagine that instead of that, we would have had an attack, a Mumbai-style attack with a group of trained terrorists that prepared themselves well. The result would have been very, very different.
BLACKWELL: Let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes. He is in Washington. Tom, is he right? I mean should we now worry that a swarm of terrorists could barge into an airport and just start shooting?
TOM FUENTES, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Hi, Victor. Yes, you know, essentially he's right, you have one shooter who actually makes it, penetrates past TSA and is on his way to the gate departure area, which means he's very close to being able to get to aircraft. And some of those aircraft may have had open doors with pilots in the cockpit, preparing to take off. And if one person can get through TSA and get that far into the terminal, into the departure area, what would two people do, what would three people do especially with assault rifles. So his point that if 12 trained people like the Mumbai attack in November of 2008 had arrived in a shuttle, jumped out on the sidewalk, ran into the airport, yes, they are really not going to encounter significant law enforcement. You know, we don't know when. I mean in this case, this individual gets past TSA. And we're not sure how many armed police officers are in that terminal area. But they certainly were not in close proximity to the TSA location where they were shot and the one officer killed.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this because if law enforcement source tells CNN that armed police officers were removed from TSA checkpoints at LAX earlier in the year to allow the officers to roam the terminal as long as they were no farther than two minutes away from that point. What's the reason for that? Why do that?
FUENTES: Well, you don't have to be a world class track star to cover 100 yards in 15 or 20 seconds. So, a person with an assault rifle within two minutes can be a long way into that airport, into the departure area. So, they have to ask themselves, and I'm sure that's everybody is going to be asking now, is that adequate? And I think the facts yesterday demonstrate that certainly, from the TSA protection standpoint, not really. The TSA officers have not been armed historically, and the argument is that, well, first of all, there's one that's economic. That to train that many thousands of TSA magnetometer operators and document checkers would be extremely expensive and time consuming to do it. So the reliance from TSA has been that each airport has uniformed armed police officers who are there to do that kind of security measure if necessary. And in this case, there's no officer to be found at the time that the TSA officers are being gunned down at the check point.
BLACKWELL: Tom Fuentes, CNN law enforcement analyst, we'll continue to have this conversation about security throughout the day and as we learn more about Ciancia's motives and what we can learn from this situation. Tom, thank you so much for joining us.
FUENTES: You're welcome.
KOSIK: Up next on "NEW DAY", furniture, fine arts, signed autographs, all from the personal collection of the Queen of Talk. How you can get your hands on some of Oprah's prize possessions.
BLACKWELL: Plus, they say nothing good happens after midnight. Well, some people say that.
(LAUGHTER) BLACKWELL: Including this. We'll tell you, rather, how this minivan ended up inside a convenience store.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: 19 minutes till the top of the hour now. Investigators are trying to figure out who shot the young mayor of Dawson, Georgia. It's a small town in the southwest part of the state.
KOSIK: Christopher Wright is just 23 years old. His aunt tells CNN that Wright was shot five times during an attempted robbery at his home.
BLACKWELL: Really bizarre. And he's in the hospital. Details of his condition have not been released. But the aunt says Wright's mother was struck during the incident and tied up.
KOSIK: All right. We've got some incredible video to show you CNN affiliate WTIC reports three people were hurt when a minivan slammed into a convenience store in Connecticut. This happened just past midnight, it happened on Friday. When suddenly a minivan crashed through the front doors. Several people got hit. Thankfully, none of them seriously. Now, the driver tells police her foot slipped off the brake and onto the gas pedal. And she now faces several charges.
BLACKWELL: The Queen of Talk, she is cleaning house. Today, Oprah Winfrey is auctioning off furniture, and art, and antiques and other signed items from her California mansion. The proceeds will benefit Oprah's college fund for students in South Africa. Opening bids start around $100. What would you want?
KOSIK: I don't know what's the picture - when I clean house, it doesn't look that good.
BLACKWELL: And it's not worth that much. I mean not your stuff, my stuff at least.
KOSIK: Exactly.
BLACKWELL: I mean I saw one thing that was 50,000 for some piece of furniture that was in hallway or something.
KOSIK: Can you imagine?
BLACKWELL: I can't.
KOSIK: A different world.
BLACKWELL: A totally different world.
KOSIK: People in Ohio are cleaning up after severe storms ripped through the area. Tens of thousands lost power. Almost 80 homes were damaged in this trailer park in Columbus. Several people were hurt by flying debris. And one witness said the storm sounded like a freight train. Alexandra Steele is in the CNN severe weather center. So, tell me, Alexandra, are more storms on the way or is this it? ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's it. The good news is, the storms are over. But, you know, the video was incredible. What we had incredibly gusty winds, also an awful lot of rain. And also, though, kind of in essence it was a meteorological bomb meaning the pressure kept dropping, really, as we headed throughout Thursday and into Friday. So, here are the storm reports. You can see again, Halloween. That's why a lot of Halloweens were delayed and canceled. And then on Friday, you can see what we have, again, the reports of hail damage and wind. And even 19 reports of tornadoes, but that has all moved off the coast now for the most part. That front's still lingering, though, off the Virginia and Florida coast. But we'll see that move through today. Behind it, though, much colder air coming in. Not the coldest of the season, but certainly colder than we've seen. So, Boston today, 64 tomorrow in the 40s. Also Detroit, Marquette, only in the 30s today. So very cold couple of days ahead. Again, along the immediate east coast, today, mild, but not so tomorrow. Of course, New York City marathon on Sunday. 45 degrees and windy to boot. Remember, last year, they canceled the marathon because of Superstorm Sandy. But if you're at the marathon or anywhere else, don't forget, fall back. Tonight when you go to bed, clocks go back an hour, daylight saving time ends. And across the country, pretty quiet. Northwest, some storms moving in. 60s, you guys in Denver today. By Tuesday, Denver sees snow.
KOSIK: Oh, that time of the year.
FIELD: Yes.
KOSIK: Thank you, Alexandra Steele.
BLACKWELL: Get ready for it.
KOSIK: Sure.
BLACKWELL: We're going to push forward on our big story this Saturday morning. That shooting in LAX, now when people heard the gunshots, they weren't sure who was shooting. They weren't sure where the shots were coming from. But they knew one thing ...
KOSIK: They had to get out of that terminal, terminal three right away. So, ahead, you're going to hear what they said in their own words. And they describe the panic and the terror at the airport.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: You know when those shots were fired at LAX airport people didn't have much choice but to run.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, and it was only once police caught that lone shooter yesterday inside terminal three that they could even think about what they've been through. Here's some of their stories, listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This incident apparently started with the shots fired. There are injuries. We've seen people evacuated. And we've seen people who have been injured.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I heard a couple of popping noises, and I just turned to look. It didn't - it just sounded like somebody banging on something. But there was a stampede of people coming my way and I realized that something was very wrong. At the beginning it was a complete panic. People were screaming. You know, I saw children crying. You know, I mean people here are still very shaky.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And all of a sudden, I heard a shot, but it didn't really register until everybody started, like, flying down the hallway. And they were just like jumping over chairs. Jumping over people. Hiding. And we were kind of trapped in the terminal. Seemed like an eternity but finally the security came, opened up the door. And we all piled out onto the tarmac and just kind of hid underneath the plane. It was probably the worst experience I've ever been in my life. I mean it's most terrifying.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were telling to us run different directions. Some people ran into the bathroom to hide. Then they pulled us out to the sidewalk, and said we were going to get bussed out. But then they pulled us back into the international terminal and now we're being told we were not allowed to leave.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually in a very bad place I was leaning against the wall right outside when the shots were fired. I only found that out after we were evacuated and we were standing probably 12 feet from a high powered rifle, an AR-15 looking rifle on the ground with three clips nearby and a pair of black shoes and some people's shopping bags and other people's carry-on luggage strewn about. But a policeman was taking pictures of that rifle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Can you imagine?
KOSIK: I really can't. I'm getting chills as I listened to that.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, we're going to continue to listen to some of those stories. And we've learned this morning that the accused LAX gunman sent text messages to his family not long before the shooting.
KOSIK: After the break, we're going to explain why those messages had Paul Ciancia's relatives very concerned.
BLACKWELL: This week, we're shining a spotlight on the top ten CNN heroes of 2013 as you vote for the one who inspires you the most. That's at cnnheroes.com.
KOSIK: And this week's honoree has found an innovative way to bring communities in need across the digital divide. Meet Estella Pyfrom.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ESTELLA PYFROM: I grew up in segregated South. Actually, started picking beans at age six. But my father, I used to hear him say if you get a good education, you can get a good job. So we knew that education was important. In today's time, many of our children don't have computers at home. And low-income families don't have transportation to get to where the computers are. Kids who don't have access to computers after school will be left behind.
My name is Estella Pyfrom, at age 71, I took my retirement savings to create a classroom to bring high-tech learning to communities in need.
PYFROM (on camera): All right. Let's get on board Estella's Brilliant Bus! (voice over): Estella's Brilliant Bus is a mobile learning center.
(on camera): Are you ready to get on the computers?
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Yes!
PYFROM (voice over): We want to do what we can do to make things better for all.
(on camera): OK, got it.
(voice over): I see the bus as being able to bridge that gap.
(on camera): Yes.
(voice over): Between technology and the lack of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She helps me by having one-on-one attention. And if I don't get, she'll help me with it. I look forward to it a lot.
PYFROM (on camera): How are we doing here?
(on camera): It's not just a bus, it's a movement. We're going to go from neighborhood to neighborhood, keep making a difference.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KOSIK: So, I think I'm putting it mildly when I say it was a real, real rough week for Kathleen Sebelius. Last week, on Capitol Hill, the Health and Human Services Secretary got grilled over the Obamacare fiasco. She also got attacked on the airwaves where she became the target of comedians.
BLACKWELL: Yes, CNN entertainment correspondent Nischele Turner has some late-night laughs.
NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Victor, now, can you know "The Late Night" guys love when there's conflict in Washington. Because it makes their monologue writing pretty easy. You know, the battle over Obamacare, though, has provided a ton of material for them, but is it just providing laughs, or really shaping the way people think?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you tried restarting your computer?
(LAUGHTER)
TURNER: "Late Night" jokes about Obamacare and healthcare.gov. They're funny --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That smiling woman on the home page is gone, gone!
(LAUGHTER)
(on camera): And clever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see the rollout has been one disaster after the next. Actually, you can't even get to the next disaster. You get an error page that says 404 disaster not found.
(LAUGHTER)
TURNER: But are they more than just entertainment?
LAUREN FELDMAN, ASST. PROFESSOR, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY: Just like traditional news, news analysis, the debates, the conventions, political advertising all shape how people make sense of politics. So, too, does "The Daily Show" and the "Colbert Report" and "Saturday Night Live."
TURNER: Lauren Feldman conducts viewer surveys to major how these shows influence politics. She finds that the shows sketches and jokes, the nation laughs that late at night actually play an important educational role for the things we do during the day.
FELDMAN: People gain factual knowledge from the "Daily Show" particularly when they approach the show as news. As opposed to considering it as purely entertainment.
TURNER: But a recent Gallup poll shows that Americans' overall view of the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare has actually improved slightly since August.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
TURNER: Still, the nation's leaders have learned to recognize the significance of "Late Night" comedy shows. Just recently Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stopped by "The Daily Show" for a comedic grilling by Jon Stewart.
JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW": I'm going to challenge. I'm going to try and download every movie ever made.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: Then you're going to try and sign up for Obamacare, and we'll see which happens first.
TURNER: A few weeks after that "Late Night" laugh session, America got this. KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: I apologize.
TURNER: And though it's certainly no cure-all to Obamacare's digital debacle, as they say, laughter can often be good medicine.
STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT": This techno tiered taco will be Barack Obama's true legacy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) TURNER: And now that the website will allow us turning into this fiasco, you can be sure that this week coming up there will be another health care-filled jokefest. Back to you.
KOSIK: That was - that was really funny.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, a lot of people laughing except the people who were trying to get health insurance.
KOSIK: You know what, everybody loves to hate the government and can the government get more wrong? Especially after the whole debt ceiling issue, and the government shutting down. It's like hey, you're asking for it.
BLACKWELL: Yeah, these reports that there were six people who were able to enroll on the first day.
KOSIK: It's incredible.
BLACKWELL: So, I mean we'll see if these - the promises that these problems will be fixed by the end of the month. And we'll see if that comes. Thanks for starting your morning with us.
KOSIK: We've got much more ahead on "NEW DAY SATURDAY" which continues right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard shots. We heard four shots, everybody kind of hit the ground and then people started to run.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: A shooting rampage at Los Angeles International Airport kills one TSA officer, injures two others. We now have new details on who the shooter is and what his real mission may have been.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He proceeded up into the screening area where TSA screeners are. And continued shooting and went past the screeners back into the airport itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KOSIK: Plus, ripple effect, how other airports and your flights are being affected by Friday's shooting. We're going to take you live to the nation's busiest airport. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Whoo!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
